Opportunity

Legal Counsel (Hospitality and IP)

In-House · Legal Counsel · 4+ PQE · Intellectual Property · Dubai, UAE · Permanent

Job ref 10085 · Posted Oct 21, 2026

This role has closed

We place senior lawyers across this practice regularly. Register your interest so we can come back to you with similar briefs.

Role overview

Our client is a major Dubai hospitality and lifestyle group, active on both the owner and the operator side. Due to movement in the team, they are looking to hire a Legal Counsel to support the legal function on hotel transactions and intellectual property. The successful candidate will run due diligence, manage local counsel and draft HMAs, franchising and licensing agreements through to acquisition documents. This is a fantastic opportunity for a hands-on hospitality lawyer with IP experience to take on broad work in a busy in-house team.

Key responsibilities

  • Draft and negotiate hotel management, franchise and licensing agreements
  • Run due diligence on hotel acquisitions and other transactions
  • Manage the group’s trade mark portfolio and brand protection
  • Advise on IP in brand licensing and commercial agreements
  • Instruct and manage local counsel

Candidate profile

  • 4-8 years’ PQE
  • Hospitality transactions experience, from private practice or with a hotel operator or owner
  • HMA experience, ideally alongside hotel acquisitions or M&A
  • IP experience, particularly trade marks and brand licensing
  • Regional experience preferred

About Meyssa Legal

Meyssa Legal places lawyers across private practice and in-house roles in the UAE, with deep experience in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We work consultatively with leading firms, in-house teams, and senior counsel across banking and finance, disputes, corporate, regulatory, and TMT.

Our approach prioritises judgment over targets and discretion over volume. We brief every role in confidence, submit only candidates we genuinely believe fit, and treat every conversation as the start of a long-term relationship.

Interested in this role

Start with a conversation.

We discuss every role in confidence before we submit a candidate. One short call is often all it takes to know whether it is the right fit on both sides.

Speak to us about this role